


Yuuta’s first day at Seigaku

by GrilledBeer



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:21:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22959367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrilledBeer/pseuds/GrilledBeer
Summary: Yuuta thought he already knew all there was to know about his new school. That's the perks of having an older brother in the same school, after all. Except the one unknown fact...which is Tezuka Kunimitsu.Gen, hints of TeFu.29/2/2020 Birthday Fic.
Relationships: Fuji Shuusuke/Tezuka Kunimitsu
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	Yuuta’s first day at Seigaku

The perks of having an older brother in the same school…especially if said brother was only one year apart… were that it took you less time to get assimilated. 

First, you were guaranteed to have someone to hang with…in between classes, at lunch, after school… You even had someone to walk home with, and that person was your own brother. Plus, his friends would want to hang with you, because you were the key for them to get to know your brother better. And you would always have someone to borrow something from in case you forgot…textbooks, dictionary, calculator, art supplies, you name it, provided that he didn't leave his at home, too.

It was not a new feeling. Both Yuuta and his brother went to the same primary school, after all. It was just the same story all over again.

All in all, Yuuta’s first day at Seigaku was… underrated. Censured even. Everything was _given_.

He had already been to Seigaku… his brother took him here last year to show him around his new school. He knew some of the people here… some of his brother’s friends and even some of his teachers. He knew which corridors belonged to the upperclassmen, hence inaccessible, and which were safe to roam. He even knew what the regular’s uniform of the school’s tennis team looked like from his brother’s description, even though he hadn’t seen the real thing yet. Kind of looked like the French flag, his brother had said.

Their sister dropped them off at school on her way to work. They attended the first student assembly together before separating to their respective class. Yuuta’s self-introduction to his new class was cut short at “I’m Fuji Yu…”. His classmates only cared that he was a Fuji. Most knew of the popular second year from the tennis club already. Those who hadn't now learned of Fuji Syusuke from Yuuta’s introduction of himself. Almost everyone already had something to say about his family — they knew that they had an older sister, what kind of work his father did, that they had recently moved from Chiba… Hell, they even knew where they lived, and Yuuta had nothing new about himself to introduce.

Lunch rolled around and he sat with his brother and some of his friends from the tennis team. The rowdy, excitable senior named Kikumaru-sempai from the same class as his brother already came to visit a few times last year. He asked a lot of questions in between mouthfuls of lunch. The calm, gentle senior who introduced himself as “Oishi”, a friend of his brother and Kikumaru-sempai’s, smiled whenever Yuuta managed to utter a nervous answer. His brother only put on that ever so happy smile of his and let his friends entertain Yuuta.

He went to observe the tennis club after school.

Sure, he liked tennis. It’s something both his brother and himself enjoyed, but that didn’t necessarily mean he had to join the tennis club his brother had talked so much about. It would be fun to play together at school, and they could even be on the same team for tournaments, his brother had said. They had talked about it before. His brother was all about Yuuta joining the club, but he had had his doubts. He also enjoyed TV and games, and had the options of pop-culture club or even boardgames club, too. 

His brother was on the court, practicing swings along with other non-regular players. He was using the golden racket that they had brought together at the store before either of them entered middle school. Yuuta had an identical racket at home, but in silver colour. When he looked at the golden racket, Yuuta saw himself swinging his own silver racket side by side with his brother’s golden.

He decided to join the tennis club, too.

Only when he decided to make his presence known, did he feel lonely, _alienated_ , as he should be at a new school, for the first time.

He knew he shouldn’t interrupt club activity, but decided to call the attention of his brother anyway. He waved once from behind the fence, but his brother didn’t notice. He was too focused on his form, brows furrowed, uncharacteristically absorbed in the task of aligning the curve of his elbow. The boy in glasses in the row next to his brother registered Yuuta’s failed attempt, but continued on with his practice. Yuuta was embarrassed and wondered if he should start home first. His brother had already told him not to wait, but Yuuta had wanted to come and see. Eventually, he decided to wave again, more desperately this time, but still failed to grab his brother’s attention. Again, the boy in glasses saw this, but this time he pointed to himself, silently asking whether Yuuta was calling him. Yuuta shook his head, a little miffed, and pointed to his brother. This was an upperclassmen after all, judging from the same colour of PE uniform as that of his brother’s.

The upperclassman in glasses looked around at first, puzzled, and motioned inquiringly to his brother. Yuuta timidly nodded his confirmation, and slightly bowed his head in thanks.

A few minutes later, a senior in regular’s uniform called for the end of swing practice. Yuuta waited nervously, feeling progressively insecure. The boy in glasses finally put his racket down and tapped his brother lightly on the shoulder. His brother turned around, perplexed, and spotted Yuuta. His eyes suddenly grew bright and a smile illuminated his face. Still carrying the racket and tennis ball, his brother grabbed the other boy by the wrist and excitedly dragged him to the fence where Yuuta stood.

Yuuta didn’t know this person, and the other didn’t seem to know him either.

“Yuuta, this is Tezuka. Tezuka, this is Yuuta, the little brother I always talked to you about.”

Yuuta bowed at the introduction. The other boy didn’t smile, but seemed to realise who Yuuta was now. He frowned and pushed his glasses up.

“Yuuta-kun, you shouldn’t interrupt club activity. You could have distracted other members at practice. Next time, please wait until break to try to call anyone.”

To say Yuuta was stunned was an understatement. He was frozen on spot. Who was this guy? Why did his brother seem so familiar with him, yet hadn’t talked about him at all to Yuuta? Was he some high-ranking member of the club, to be so strict?

What the other said was perfectly reasonable, Yuuta admitted. However, having someone who knew you one-sided, and have met you for the first time, speak his mind to you on your first day of school was very disconcerting. It shook the foundation of experience Yuuta had at Seigaku thus far. He was quickly losing however small amount of confidence he had built in his first day of school, and couldn’t muster a word of response.

“Now, now. It’s Yuuta’s first day of school and he’s not even a member of the club. No need to be so strict with him, Tezuka.” His brother intervened good-naturedly. The boy called Tezuka only huffed, crossed his arms, but didn’t say anything else.

“Sorry…Tezuka-san.” Yuuta murmured, back stiff, eyes downcast.

“It’s alright, Yuuta!” His brother chirped. “I’ll have to get back to practice now. Listen, why don’t you head home first, and I will follow right after practice is over.”

Tezuka-san silently extricated the tennis ball from his brother’s grasp and turned around to return it to the ball basket. His brother let him.

Still shaken, Yuuta nodded silently. Entering the club meant being on the same team as someone as serious as this Tezuka-sempai. This was the one fact that his brother neglected to mention out of the myriad of things about the Seigaku tennis club. Yuuta knew which was the best spot in school to have lunch, the shortest way from class to court in case you were running late, which subjects were available to choose from when you enter second year, but he hadn’t even known that a friend called “Tezuka” existed prior to this moment.

Yuuta thought about the tennis ball that was sent to join its friends in the ball basket by Tezuka-sempai, and thought that maybe, his brother hadn't known either. Maybe there was just nothing about Tezuka-sempai to talk about, that could be talked about.

And because Yuuta knew so much about Seigaku from his brother already, this one _unknown_ fact truly undermined the whole picture of how his school life in the next three years would be. For the first time, he felt all alone, truly like a new student on his first day at a new school he was supposed to be. It uprooted him. He knew he shouldn’t be anxious just because of some stranger, but he couldn’t help but feel that his whole experience at this school would depend a lot on how well he could navigate his relationship with this Tezuka-sempai, among other things.

And how right he was.

Tezuka-sempai had his back to both of them. His brother was standing in front of Yuuta, but his head was turned towards the other boy. The balls in the basket shone fluorescent in the late afternoon sun. 

**Author's Note:**

> It's well past midnight my time, so it's technically no longer Fuji's birthday. But hey, on the other side of the world, the day is still young, right.
> 
> But it's Fuji's birthday, why are you writing about Yuuta, you may ask. The answer is I don't know. I just feel like it.
> 
> This fic was written on the spur of the moment, with the renewed hype following the C-drama remake of Prince of Tennis (am a big fan). I don't really have a conclusion to this story... maybe I will have to think it through some. But we all know Yuuta's story after this. But let me just say: I don't believe Tezuka was the reason Yuuta decided to leave Seigaku. He could't have driven Yuuta away. I like to think that because Yuuta, overall, failed to navigate his relationships with the people of Seigaku, and Tezuka was just part of it. And it can't really all be about tennis. No, not really.
> 
> I'm quite surprised that with the amount of TeFu fics that have been produced since the early 2000's (that's almost 20 years now, my friends!!!), none had actually dealt closely with Yuuta's experience at Seigaku. Or none that I've read, anyways (and I've read a lot, some stories more than once, too.) Yuuta's story at Seigaku doesn't have to always be angsty. Here's my take on the story, my first PoT fic, after all these years in the PoT (and especially TeFu) fandom.


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